That day, two pieces of news swept through the Narrow Sea and the Stepstones like a hurricane!
The first piece of news:
Egon Targaryen officially declared his sovereignty over the Stepstones.
Warning all pirates in the waters around the Stepstones to leave immediately, or go to Bloodstone Isle, which has been renamed Dragonstone, to collect identification and become a part of the Stepstones!
All merchant ships passing through the Stepstones must take the largest primary channel and pay a toll equivalent to one-tenth of the cargo's value in order, otherwise they will be treated as smuggling, with the cargo ship detained and goods confiscated!
The second piece of news:
Due to Duke Egon Targaryen's magnanimity, he specifically allowed the Tyroshi to continue living on Tyrosh Island, which has been part of the Seven Kingdoms' territory since ancient times, within the Stepstones archipelago.
However, Tyrosh must undergo "demilitarization" and be garrisoned by men sent by Duke Egon Targaryen.
At the same time, Duke Egon Targaryen allowed the Tyroshi to govern their city autonomously, becoming the "Tyrosh Island Autonomous Region," and immediately withdraw from the Triarchy!
If Tyrosh does not comply with the demands, Duke Egon Targaryen will declare war on Tyrosh!
The news was like a hurricane.
It not only stunned the Tyroshi but also the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms and many city-states on the western coast of the Narrow Sea.
Just as everyone was cursing Aegon as an arrogant lunatic, twenty warships had already departed from the Dragonstone dock.
Aegon stood at the dock, watching the fleet depart, with three Dragons circling above the fleet.
"Alas," Aegon sighed, "if only those cargo ships and sailors could have stayed as well."
Apart from the thirty warships, the remaining cargo ships were returning. Aegon desperately needed a large number of his own cargo ships to transport supplies!
Fortunately, when planning the new port, he specifically allocated an area for building a shipyard.
Aegon had money and skilled shipwrights.
As long as there were enough hands, it wouldn't be long before he could build ships himself.
However, ships couldn't be built just by having a shipyard. To build ships, besides the necessary shipyard, a complete industrial chain was also needed behind it.
Aegon planned to allocate a piece of land near the port and invest in building factories himself.
Ironworks, stone quarries, timber mills, as well as future saltworks and soap factories, would all be built in specific areas.
"Gotta speed things up," Aegon muttered, stroking his chin.
He couldn't keep being held back by labor issues. Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures!
One must know that over three hundred thousand people lived within the city of Tyrosh.
Including the hinterlands of the Disputed Lands occupied by Tyrosh, the surrounding population was close to a million, and sixty percent of them were slaves!
The conditions Aegon proposed, such as "demilitarization," garrisoning troops, becoming an autonomous region, and withdrawing from the Triarchy, did not at all consider whether Tyrosh would agree.
Let alone Tyrosh disagreeing, even if Tyrosh agreed, Aegon would find other reasons to launch a full-scale war against Tyrosh!
After all, Tyrosh was different from Myr and Lys. Aegon planned to grant Myr to Aemond and Lys to the younger Daeron.
And Tyrosh and the hinterlands it occupied in the Disputed Lands would all be directly under Aegon's jurisdiction.
Aegon would absolutely not stop until he had shattered every bone in Tyrosh's body!
Once the full-scale war with Tyrosh began, he would be able to absorb a large number of slaves from Tyrosh as spoils of war and convert them into the population of the Stepstones.
This would neither violate the Seven Kingdoms' laws prohibiting the slave trade, giving the Black Party a handle, nor prevent the slave-owning city-states of Essos from uniting closely out of fear and vested interests.
Coupled with the Rebel Army holding high the banner of abolishing slavery and liberating the world's slaves to tie them down from the front.
Within three years, the strength of the Stepstones would surely soar in his hands.
After that, he would spend another five years expanding, completely swallowing and digesting the entire Disputed Lands!
With a territory of several million people as support, when Viserys passed away and civil war erupted, Aegon would be able to deal with the Black Party more calmly.
He could also take the opportunity to purge the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms, redistribute interests, and consolidate royal power!
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Somewhere in the Narrow Sea.
A fleet of five small warships was hunting a very large cargo ship.
With the grappling hooks secured to the gunwale, Hugh was the first to rush onto the cargo ship's deck.
Generally, for such a huge cargo ship, the owner would hire mercenaries for protection, and the Harpy was no exception.
As soon as Hugh boarded the deck, several arrows flew towards him.
He raised his sword to block his vital eye area; the arrows were all blocked by the greatsword and his heavy plate armor.
The mercenary holding a bow and arrow's face changed drastically.
"Damn it, how did he climb up wearing plate armor?"
The mercenary's face showed an expression of disbelief. Climbing grappling hooks in plate armor without even breathing heavily, was this still a human?
But Hugh didn't care about any of that. He charged forward, wielding his sword with one hand.
The five-finger-wide greatsword was like a swimming Dragon in his hand, instantly cleaving the two nearest bow-wielding mercenaries into four pieces!
This scene stunned the mercenaries on the ship, but Hugh's subordinates were already used to it and immediately seized the moment the mercenaries were stunned to launch a fierce attack.
Just then, an elderly man with gray hair and beard, wearing luxurious silk robes but with a slave collar around his neck, appeared.
"Kill all these pirates! A heavy reward of one Mirin gold coin per head!"
The old man's voice was full of vigor, and the generous bounty instantly dispelled the fear of Hugh's terrifying combat power in the mercenaries' hearts.
Hugh's eyes showed disdain as he casually cut down a mercenary who wasn't afraid of death.
"For Honor!"
"For Honor!"
Hugh roared and charged again, and the others followed closely behind without any hesitation, roaring!
The old man with the slave collar around his neck frowned, realizing something was wrong almost instantly.
"Warrior, my master is the Great Master Vittario Daznak, the greatest in Mirin. If there is any misunderstanding between us, we are willing to pay to resolve this!"
Alton shouted loudly.
His intuition told him that Hugh and his men were definitely not ordinary pirate or mercenary groups!
Hugh turned his head to look at Alton. The full-face helmet stained with blood prevented Alton from seeing Hugh's expression, only a pair of cold purple eyes.
Alton swallowed, forced down the fear in his heart, and prepared to explain to Hugh how powerful his master was.
But Hugh directly picked up a spear from the ground, aimed at Alton, and threw it!
The immense force sent Alton flying several meters, impaling him firmly on a pillar, the tail of the spear still trembling!
Alton stared fixedly at Hugh's slaughtering figure, filled with endless regret, wondering why he had been greedy for pleasure and returned separately from the merchant convoy.
As a personal slave, Alton was often sent on "business trips."
And Alton, being on "business trips," naturally had the opportunity to eat, drink, and have fun "for free."
To have more time for enjoyment, Alton would delay his departure by a few days for various reasons.
Nothing had ever gone wrong before. Even if they encountered pirates, there were mercenaries with considerable combat strength guarding the ship.
If the mercenaries were at a disadvantage, he could also pay to resolve the trouble.
It was just a pity that Hugh had no intention of listening to him at all and directly speared him to death!
He had seen too many people recently who tried to buy peace with money.
It was simply foolish!
Even if the person died, this giant cargo ship would still be his!
Just as Hugh was clearing out the mercenaries on the Harpy, two Dragon roars sounded one after another.
The first Dragon roar carried anxiety and unease, while the second Dragon roar carried mockery and provocation!
Hugh looked up, searching for the source of the sound.
He saw a black Dragon chasing a brown Dragon.
"Why is The Cannibal chasing Sheepstealer?"
Just as Hugh was surprised, The Cannibal suddenly accelerated, directly biting Sheepstealer's tail, and the two Dragons instantly wrestled together in the air!
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